Severn recon this afternoon - they are still there

[J.A. Veil]

Aesiegel and I fished for a while this afternoon in a Severn tributary not too far from Jonas Green park. In an hour and half of fishing, we came up with 11 or 12 pickerel between us -- all pretty small (my largest was 15.5"). Most of the fish I caught were clustered in just a few stretches of shoreline. Following the extremely low water level two weeks ago, many of the fish seem to have relocated from where they hung out most of the winter.

Anyway, I am pleased to report that there are still some catchable and close-by pickerel waiting for the meet & greet on Sat. If I get enough done tomorrow, I may head back over and check out another spot.

[ictalurus]

Excellent. Thanks for the info. I was just getting ready to ask you for the latest scoop.

[Yak Fish]

Thanks. I was curious about the our chances this weekend. I'm looking forward to it.

[moc]

Thanks for the recon John as usual. Maybe I will catch my first pickerel of the year.

[camelbird]

Thanks again John!

[chex]

Thanks! Can't wait. Never caught a pickerel before, hope to do so this weekend. I've got various 2" - 4" minnow-like plastics ready to try. Cast toward the shore... slow retrieve... all I need now is a little luck.

[J.A. Veil]

I had intended to recon another tributary today, but the wind kept me at home. I hope to get out there tomorrow while it is still warm. Saturday's forecast looks chilly with stronger winds than I had hoped for. But it shouldn't be any tougher than the conditions for the Feb event.

Just bundle up and go for it. A writhing and leaping pickerel on the end of your line takes away all concerns about being cold.

[tufnik]

Any perch or crappie?

[J.A. Veil]

Any perch or crappie?

The Severn is not a freshwater river until you get far upstream. It is essentially a tidal arm of the Chesapeake. The area around Jonas Green rarely gets fresh enough for true freshwater species like largemouths or crappie. It is a brackish water environment. White and yellow perch, and pickerel can be found at various times of the year. The pickerel live there year round, but for most of the year, there is abundant natural food, so they don't get caught often by anglers. They can be caught more readily in winter when the natural food supplies are low.

From April through November, white perch are plentiful in the creeks near Jonas Green. This time of year, they are rare. Yellow perch are migratory too. I suspect that most of the yellow perch in the Severn system are far upstream now.

I fished the section of the Severn near Jonas Green at least 25 times this winter. In all those trips, I caught no yellow perch and only 2 white perch. If you badly want white perch, you may have better luck jigging the deeper water around the Rt 450 or Rt 50 bridge pilings, or try jigging the submerged concrete debris near the end of the fishing pier.